Sign of the Times Cheltenham Everyman Theatre, May 25 - 30. Tickets £16, 01242 572573 FROM brass bands to dog collars, newsrooms to vets’ scrubs, there isn’t much Stephen Tompkinson hasn’t turned his hand to during his career so far.

His latest stage role sees the curtain go up to reveal him dangling off the side of a building attaching giant letters to the side of it.

In Sign of the Times, by Tim Firth, Stephen plays Frank Tollitt, a man who has spent the last 25 years putting signs on buildings.

It’s Frank’s talent, but not his ambition. He wants to be a writer.

“He secretly harbours desires of a literary nature and wants to be the next John Grisham,” said Stephen.

“Only he’s not terribly good. On the other hand his new assistant Alan is a very talented musician and he influences Frank to set his sights lower to achieve happiness.”

The play is a two-hander between Stephen and recent drama school graduate, Tom Shaw.

“Tom and I are working really well together, he is is a great actor and I am sure he will go on to good things after this.

“The tour is going very well indeed, and it is one of Tim Firth’s gifts is that he has the ability to speak to every person in the audience, no matter how old they are or what there background is.

“It is a great show and a lovely night out.”

While he boasts an impressive CV for his stage work, it is his television work that Stephen is best-known for.

As Father Peter Clifford in Ballykissangel he melted the hearts of women across the country and as Damien Day, in Drop The Dead Donkey, his reports weren’t complete without a shot of the sad-looking teddy bear.

“I started out in radio and that is still my first love. But the filming and theatre means I get to do a lot of different things which makes me a very lucky and very happy actor.”

“With theatre you get to tell a story from beginning to end. TV can be very bitty and during an 11 hour filming day, you’re lucky if you end up with five minutes that is useable.

“But to tell Tim’s stories is always a real pleasure and you get an immediate reaction from the audience which is fantastic.”

But it is his latest role as Danny Trevanion, in Wild At Heart, that has proved to be one of his favourite roles to date.

“We go out to film in Africa for about five and a half months and it is a very beautiful part of the world.

“I get real a buzz working in such close quarters with these incredible animals. It is a very humbling experience just to see them in their natural habitat.

“We film on an animal sanctuary so the animals have a lot of human contact, which is why we are able to get such amazing footage.”

Stephen and the rest of the Wild At Heart team are heading back out to the country as soon as the tour is finished to start filming the fifth series of the programme.

“I can’t wait,” he said.